2019-July Prepping Updates

Pulled the garlic and cleaned them up. Gave a bunch of it away to some friends. Two of the grandkids pulled theirs for entry in one of the local grange fairs. Last year the youngest took 1st place and the one grandson took 2d place.

Did maintenance on the solar panels and batteries and started up the generators and refueled them.

Spent the 4th of July week at camp, did some maintenance there, sat around the fire, drank some beer and told a bunch of hunting/fishing lies, I mean tales of years gone by. Seems like the more beer you drink, the bigger the fish/deer, etc..

It has been a busy month. I had a family reunion that started June 28 and ended yesterday...we had a lot of fun, got to catch up, and I found out that one of the cousin families is prepping! YAY! So we got to talk a lot about that.

Husband finally got a chance to hit the Bishop's Warehouse in another state. He stocked up on cans of flour, oatmeal, milk, apple slices, drink mix, and potato flakes. 30 year shelf life. He also got two kinds of wheat.

We got a lot of the outside maintenance chores done - pressure washed and sealed both decks, painted stuff that needed painting, and so on.

A niece took the two smaller weaned kittens and they have settled in happily in her home.

Husband hit the Amazon Prime sales and found a few things for both of us - some solar stuff, a battery charger for small appliances, and a KitchenAid mixer.

I've split the sourdough starter twice - family members were thrilled to have it and I gave directions for keeping it alive and how to use it.

The garden is dismal, but we did get some cabbages and bell peppers. The tomatoes and potatoes are doing fine, but nothing is ripe yet.

I got some things sewn - family members saw some of my stuff and asked for some, too. So, I made bowl cozies for one person, who helped me with cut out and measuring. I repaired a family heirloom quilt that I made 15 years ago for a niece, and sewed some hot pads for her, too. She made an apron on my sewing machine for her mother-in-law. More is cut out, but we didn't get a chance to finish, so I will do them later.

Today was grocery shopping and yard sale day.

Grocery shopping:
Restocked what we used
1 pair of small scissors for the bathroom

Yard sales:

20 sewing patterns - $1.50
1 bag of lace - $2.00
Computer light - 25 cents
Leather belt for Husband - 25 cents
2 Books:
Grannie's Remedies by Mai Thomas - 10 cents
Down Home Ways by Jerry Mack Johnson - 10 cents

Finally finished sewing the new covers for the four patio chair cushions. Made from sheets I got on sale at the store.

Husband was digging a ditch earlier to finish hard-wiring the generator in the garage (ditch is for conduit from pole...and don't worry, there's a kill switch to cut power to the pole should we use the generator).

He also cleaned out a metal trash can to make another faraday cage for some electronics.

Went to the wife's family reunion in Gettysburg left Thursday so she could spend some time with her sister that lives there and got back today. Man was it unbearably hot and muggy there, but had a good time.

Picked up a couple bushels of those Chambersburg peaches, the wife and daughter are going to can them tomorrow.

Went to an outdoor flea market there and picked up a bunch of wood and machine screws, a hatchet and a buck saw.

Cut the grass today and heading to Camp tomorrow for a few days.

Got my monthly massage today, my back feels much better. I strained it a couple weeks ago and have been taking it easy.

Sold $15 worth of stuff at the consignment shop.

Husband was stopped from working on the generator hookup due to flash thunderstorms last night and today.

Bad storms and wind last night and into early this morning. Wife heard a boom around 1:00 a.m. outside.

Got up this morning around 4 a.m., made the coffee, listened to the news. The wife got up about
5:30 a.m. and asked what was up against the kitchen window. I said it's a 60 foot pine tree that was about 10 feet from the kitchen.

Called a tree service to handle it, they came and 2 hours later and $750.00, the pine tree was gone. Luckily there was no damage to the roof. The tree was uprooted and resting against the eve of the house and only bent the metal edge cover of the metal roof. My house insurance is $1000.00 deductable so I had to pay out of pocket. Oh well, easy come easy go.

They cut the tree up into 18" pieces, so when it dries, I'll use it in the fire pit, just have to watch out for the spitters.

Dang, Rick! I'm glad the damage was minimal, despite the cost to repair.

Today was grocery shopping and yard sale day.

Husband wants to begin the winter prepping, so we bought a few things at the grocery store...

2 cans BBQ beans
2 cans tuna
2 jars spaghetti sauce
Large bag of Lifesavers hard candy (will replace the 10 year old stuff)
Paper plates, bowls, and plastic utensils (to replace what was used at family reunion)
New water bowl for the cats

Yard sales:

22 yards (maybe more) of assorted fabrics - $10
Pendleton wool blanket (retail $99) - FREE
Ozark Trails backpack with water bladder - $5
2 new Stanley thermoses (regular and wide mouth) - $15
Izod fleece shirt for me - 25 cents
Fleece shirt for Husband - $1
Harvard Medical Guide - $2

We got the female mama kitty spayed this week. Since she's lived here since November, and had her 2 sets of kittens in our heated outdoor cat house, she's ours now. Only one of our cats goes outside regularly now, so we need some outside ones to help take care of mice. Her two younger kittens were weaned and went to their new homes with our niece. The older kitten is ours, too. He'll be neutered when he's old enough.

We got more buckets, lids, mylar bags, and oxygen absorbers and put the 150 pounds of wheat away for the LTS.

Cinnamon wrote:Dang,

Yard sales:

22 yards (maybe more) of assorted fabrics - $10

Cinn ... I thought you were downsizing your fabric collection????? That's NOT how you do it!

My wife and I picked 8 gal of black berries in 2 days.. It looks like we well on are way to at least 20 gal this year... God is great

blackberries here have come and gone. I didn't even pick a single one. I let that pitiful excuse for a peach tree feed the goats. Ive been too absorbed in trying to get the farm back on track and making it to work every night that not much else is getting focused on.

mmpaints wrote:blackberries here have come and gone.  I didn't even pick a single one.  I let that pitiful excuse for a peach tree feed the goats.  Ive been too absorbed in trying to get the farm back on track and making it to work every night that not much else is getting focused on.

The wild blk berries are long gone here, But about 4 yrs ago a older gentleman gave us some tame blk berry starts and the past 3 yrs they have produced wonderfully... The best thing is they are thorn less so we don't have to bleed to get them...

We have 3 peach trees that I planted 3 yrs ago and so far no peaches I don't know what I am doing wrong if they don't produce next year I will cut them down and try something else. They have never had blooms on them...

Our green beans and corn are still up in the air we might get something from them.. I didn't buy any because they wanted $40 a bushel for the beans and $20 a bushel for the corn..

Dave, before you whack em down, try those tree spike fertilizer sticks. Sometimes it's as simple as low magnesium in the soil. Or, maybe, it's just poor grafting stock. Try the spikes first

mmpaints wrote:Dave, before you whack em down, try those tree spike fertilizer sticks.  Sometimes it's as simple as low magnesium in the soil.  Or, maybe, it's just poor grafting stock.  Try the spikes first

Thanks MM I will give it a try also is there anything I should spray them with ??

ReadyMom wrote:

Cinnamon wrote:Dang,

Yard sales:

22 yards (maybe more) of assorted fabrics - $10  

Cinn ... I thought you were downsizing your fabric collection????? That's NOT how you do it!

I know, right? But good grief, not only $1 for each print, but they were kid prints - and I was asked to make a bunch of kid's aprons, which I declined, as I had no kid fabrics...I took it as a sign from God that I needed to pick up this fabric and make them.